Copyright, Fair Use and Blogging

Tuesday evening, I spent time with a woman who had copyright concerns about the blogging that she and her colleagues are doing.  While we didn't use the word "myths", clearly there are many myths and urban legends that surround copyright.  Below are links to the resources I gave her.  Obviously, these are a drop in the bucket, but good conversation starters for us over coffee and for her colleagues on Wednesday morning!

• Fair Use Checklist 
• 10 Big Myths about copyright explained
• 5 Copyright Hazards to Avoid
• Question: Can I copy an entire news article from a commercial news web site and post the article on my web site? 
• Question: I found something interesting on someone else's blog. May I quote it?

And since we should not assume that people know what fair use is:

• U.S. Copyright Law (Titles 17, Section 107): Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use
• Fair Use Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers)

Article: Urban Copyright Legends

The June 2010 issue of Research Library Issues includes a four-page article by Brandon Butler entitled Urban Copyright Legends. The legends that he addresses are:

• You cannot rely on fair use to protect a general policy because fair use determinations are made on a case-by-case basis.
• Fair use is a defense, not an exemption, and accused infringers will bear a heavy burden of proving in court that their use was fair.
• If a license is available, then your use ‘harms the market’ for that work and cannot be fair.
•  For digital transmissions, Section 110 trumps fair use. If a use does not qualify for 110 protection, it cannot be a fair use.
• If a video is marketed for educational use, it cannot be transmitted digitally under 110(2).

Read the article to understand why Butler sees these are being legends.

I can see this article starting many useful conversations, especially around his first urban legend.  General policies are good, but I expect that some (like me) would fear that such a policy would be abused.  The only way to ensure that such a policy is not abused is through copyright education; something that we don't do enough of.

Event: Journal Article Tag Suite Conference

According to the web site, the Journal Article Tag Suite Conference (JATS-Con) is the first of what the National Library of Medicine hopes "will be an annual series of conferences for users of the Journal Article Tag Suite, that is, users of any of the NLM DTDs. JATS-Con is a peer-reviewed conference with a broad range of content on the Tag Suite from the technical to publishing theory — and the latest news on the Tag Suite."  The NLM journal DTD and its variations are used to publish, author, archive, or interchange journal articles or other documents. This event on November 1-2, 2010 is free, but registration is required.

Digital Content Quarterly

In January 2010, JISC re-launched its Strategic Content Alliance newsletter as Digital Content Quarterly. Each issue is published as an interactive version (with videos) and as a static PDF document.  As described by Sarah Fahmy in an email:

The content of DCQ is aimed primarily aimed at the digital content professional working in the public sector holistically, from cultural heritage, education  and research, health or public service broadcasting. It aims to provide a news round-up of digital content issues from around the world, thought-provoking features highlighting key debates in the field and regular columns from experts in areas that have most traction in terms of digital content provision: intellectual property rights and business modelling and sustainability, in this fast-paced, ever-changing environment.

Yes, there is something here for everyone, so if you haven't checked it out, go and take a peek.

Blog post: A ‘Virtual Book’: CCC’s Google Seminar Series

My blog post on July 20 about the Copyright Clearance Center and Beyond the Book content on the Google Book Settlement was sparked by a book I received in the mail from Chris Kenneally at Beyond the Book of transcripts from several Lois Wasoff webinars.  In a Twitter conversation, Kenneally noted that the book was something they were testing and that all of the transcripts were on the CCC web site.  That sounded like a challenge to me!  So I set off to find the transcripts that are in the book, which also lead me to addition content relevant to the Google Book Settlement.

So I was inspired by what the CCC had done, and the Kenneally was ten inspired by my blog post.  Hence, the book is now available as a PDF on the Beyond the Book web site. {Chris, thank you!}

As a side note, the CCC and Beyond the Book create a ton of content on copyright that is available for free.  Chris Kenneally does weekly podcasts at Beyond the Book about copyright, publishing, and new ways of thinking about the content we create.  On the CCC web site, look under the education section for tools, news, guidelines, reports and more.  You might want to check it out and see what would be useful to you.